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Lewis Hamilton reveals his on-track battles with Sebastian Vettel are his career favourite, and explains why they are different to his current battles with Max Verstappen.
During the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Thursday press conference Lewis Hamilton was asked to reveal which of his many on-track career rivalries was his favourite.
The Briton says he enjoyed battling Sebastian Vettel (who was sitting next to him in the press conference) in 2017 and 2018 the most.
“I’ve got a really bad memory, but I’m going to say mine and Seb’s battles were my favourite up until now,” said Hamilton.
“Knowing how hard it is to be where we are today, knowing I was racing against an incredible driver, and not only that, but a great man in Seb.
“He’s a four-time world champion. Ultimately when you’re racing against another team at the same time, Ferrari who were very strong at the time – it took a lot out of both of us in that period of time to remain focused, to deliver weekend in, weekend out.
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“I think whilst it was a difficult period for us, I think it probably brought us closer as well, because the respect that we have between us is I think huge.”
“For me, I think fighting with Seb, fighting with Valtteri [Bottas], you just want to be fighting with the best drivers and [it be] as close as possible.
“Then you can hopefully try and eke out a bit more than your competitors to get the results.”
“It’s different now, of course. If I’m racing with Max, he doesn’t have the background that Seb has, but he’s obviously got the chance of being a future champion.
“Whether that’s now or later, it depends on the job ultimately that the team and I do,” concluded Hamilton.
